Former FARC Rebel Discovers Hope and Peace in Motherhood
After 26 years of fighting for Colombia's resistance movement, Esperanza traded in her uniform for life as a mother.
When photographer Juan Arredondo first met Esperanza Medina in December 2016, Medina was eight months pregnant. After 26 years as a die-hard member of Colombia’s Marxist rebel group, FARC, Medina was preparing for motherhood, something she wouldn’t have been allowed to do even one year earlier. (Read about post-war Colombia)
In the course of their conversations over the following months, Arredondo learned her story.
Medina ran away from home to join FARC when she was 14. The rebel group had long had a presence in her rural village, and she was attracted by the promise of what seemed a glamorous and exciting life as a fighter. Her parents wanted her to stay at home. One night
